Dalang is one of the first major skill checks in Where Winds Meet — a mounted boss that forces you to pay attention to positioning, parries, and status effects instead of raw damage. The encounter unfolds during the early main story, but it already feels close to a full-fledged set-piece fight.
Where Winds Meet Dalang boss overview
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Boss name | Dalang |
| Quest type | Main quest boss |
| Story chapter | Chapter 1 |
| Quest connection | Appears during “A Horse Neighs in the Forest” |
| Region | Qinghe |
| Area | Moonveil Mountain |
| Difficulty rating | ★★★☆☆ (moderate) |
| Known weakness | Not explicitly listed |
| Recommended Martial Arts | Nameless Sword, Nameless Spear |
| Recommended Mystic Art | Cloud Steps |
The fight is designed as a mid-tier challenge: punishing if you try to brute-force it, manageable once you lean into parries and smart positioning. Dalang’s health pool and Qi bar are built to reward clean counters more than reckless combos.
Where to find Dalang in Where Winds Meet
Dalang is tied directly to the Chapter 1 main quest “A Horse Neighs in the Forest.” Progressing that questline will naturally lead you into the encounter — there is no need to track the boss as a standalone world event.
| Step | Objective |
|---|---|
| 1 | Advance the Chapter 1 story until you receive “A Horse Neighs in the Forest.” |
| 2 | Follow the quest markers into the Qinghe region. |
| 3 | Head toward Moonveil Mountain as directed by the quest. |
| 4 | Reach the quest-designated encounter zone where Dalang appears as the main boss. |
Defeating Dalang is mandatory to move the chapter forward. There is no alternate route around the encounter: if you want to push the main storyline, you have to clear this fight.
Recommended setup for the Dalang fight
The game nudges you toward agile, melee-focused setups for this encounter, with a heavy emphasis on parrying and mobility.
| Category | Recommendation | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Primary weapon art | Nameless Sword | Balanced reach and speed, good for reacting between Dalang’s attacks. |
| Alternate weapon art | Nameless Spear | Extra reach helps keep distance while still tagging Dalang during openings. |
| Core Mystic Art | Cloud Steps | Improved mobility for repositioning, dodging charges, and adjusting angles. |
Healing items are also worth preparing, especially Hemostatic Powder, which you receive as part of the overall reward pool for many encounters and can help you stay in the fight after a badly-timed stomp or charge.
How the Dalang encounter is structured
The fight plays out in two distinct phases:
- An opening phase where Dalang and its Owner share the arena.
- A second phase that shifts into a one-on-one duel with Dalang.
Both phases use the same core rule: your success depends on where you stand and how well you time defensive actions.
Where Winds Meet Dalang strategy: use the Owner, don’t fight him
The early phase is less about trading hits and more about turning the arena into a hazard for Dalang rather than for you. The key is the Owner character, who periodically fires Poison Darts that can affect the boss.
| Tactic | Execution | Effect on fight |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore the Owner | Avoid attacking the Owner at all and focus purely on Dalang. | The Owner keeps attacking, supplying poison damage to Dalang over time. |
| Use Dalang as a shield | Stay positioned so that Dalang’s body is physically between you and the Owner when Poison Darts are fired. | Poison Darts hit Dalang instead of you, adding extra damage and pressure. |
| Maintain mid-range distance | Stay close enough to punish Dalang’s whiffs but far enough to react to charges. | Reduces surprise hits and gives more time to reposition Dalang in front of Poison Darts. |
Where Winds Meet Dalang strategy: parry the stomp strings in phase two
Once you push Dalang into the latter part of the encounter, the Owner drops out of the equation, and the fight turns into a direct duel. At this point, you need to read Dalang’s attack patterns instead of trying to manipulate the environment.
| Move type | What it looks like | How to respond | Reward for correct play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-stomp string | Dalang repeatedly stomps in place or in short steps toward you. | Time parries/deflects on each stomp instead of rolling away. | Creates a major opening at the end for a counterattack and Qi damage. |
| Standard melee swipes | Short, direct body or hoof strikes. | Either parry or sidestep depending on your comfort with the timing. | Small punish windows to chip away at health and Qi. |
The stomp sequence is the centerpiece of this phase. Learning the rhythm is more valuable than any single piece of gear. Perfect deflects across the string dramatically drain Dalang’s Qi bar, and the final opening lets you land a heavy punish. Once you reliably parry this pattern, the fight becomes much more controlled.
Why parrying is so important against Dalang
Dalang’s Qi bar is tuned to reward clean defensive play. Chip damage alone stretches the fight and increases the risk of mistakes; parries compress the timeline and tilt momentum sharply in your favor.
| Action | Impact on Dalang | Risk level |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking without parrying | Reduces immediate damage but does little to Qi. | Low risk, low reward; can be overwhelmed by repeated hits. |
| Dodging away | Avoids damage but often misses punish windows. | Safe, but extends the fight and uses more stamina/time. |
| Well-timed parry/deflect | Direct Qi damage, stagger buildup, and clear counter window. | High reward if timing is correct; unsafe if you mistime against stomps. |
Dalang is an early signal that Where Winds Meet expects players to engage with its parry system. The boss teaches that mastering timing is just as important as optimizing stats.
Dalang boss rewards in Where Winds Meet
Clearing the encounter does more than unlock the rest of the chapter. Dalang drops a spread of currency, progression materials, and consumables that support both character growth and regional exploration.
| Reward | Quantity | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Echo Jade | 20 | Core currency for various systems (such as character or progression-related exchanges). |
| Qinghe Exploration | 10 | Contributes to exploration progress for the Qinghe region. |
| Zhou Coin | 5,000 | General-purpose money for shops and services. |
| Character XP | 5,000 | Direct character level progression. |
| Enlightment Point | 500 | Used to develop character growth paths and abilities. |
| Hemostatic Powder | 2 | Healing items to stabilize during or after difficult fights. |
For an early-story boss, the payout is generous. Echo Jade and Enlightment Points in particular help set up your build for later, harder encounters, while the Qinghe Exploration points chip away at regional completion without extra chores.
How Dalang fits into the wider boss roster
Dalang sits in the “quest-related boss” category rather than in the pure campaign or world boss lists. It’s embedded in story progression rather than designed as a repeatable overworld challenge or a late-game trial.
| Boss category | Examples | Dalang’s place |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign bosses | Heartseeker, Qianye, Ye Wanshan, The Void King, Lucky Seventeen, Tian Ying | Major story anchors for large arcs. |
| World bosses | Puppeteer – Sheng Wu, Sleeping Daoist, Earth Fiend Deity, Snake Doctor, Yi Dao | Optional but demanding open-world fights. |
| Quest-related bosses | Dalang | Tied directly to specific quests such as “A Horse Neighs in the Forest.” |
| Challenge bosses | Elder Gongsun, Gongsun Deng | Focused arenas for players seeking tougher trials. |
As a quest-related boss, Dalang’s main function is to shape how you approach future fights. It teaches you to think about ally positioning, enemy Qi, and parry timings long before the late-game bosses demand perfection.
Dalang is more than just the “horse boss” of early Where Winds Meet. It’s an introduction to how the game wants you to fight: using allies as tools, reading enemy patterns, and trusting your parry timing. Show up with a flexible melee art like Nameless Sword or Nameless Spear, lean on Cloud Steps for movement, treat the Owner as a passive poison engine, and commit to mastering the stomp parry window — the rewards, both mechanical and narrative, make the encounter worth the effort.
